TOOLS FOR WOOD TURNING.
It does not seem necessary to go into the discussion of tools, or
shapes of tools, for wood turning, for the grand and great reliance for
roughing is the gouge, and a skillful workman will do as many things
with it as the Russian carpenter is said to do with his axe, which is
almost his only tool. For smoothing, there is the flat chisel, and for
special work, every one will find tools, or, rather, make those he
finds best suited to his needs.
I would, however, here say with great earnestness, that it makes all
the difference in the world what kind of steel you get in your tools,
whether they are worth any thing or not. I never found _any_ turning
tools in stores, that I considered worth any thing. They are generally
made for working soft woods, such as pine, but the amateur needs tools
of a different class and temper. Hard woods are full of dust on the
outside, and seem more or less impregnated with silica, the principle
which forms the coating on the stalks of rye and cereal grains
generally, which destroys the cutting edge in a short time, and also
draws the temper. I have therefore found it convenient to make my own
tools out of the best steel I could buy, and temper them myself. The
difference is very marked, for where I formerly went to the grindstone
every few minutes, I now use a tool a long while, thus saving many
steps and minutes.
I therefore repeat—choose your steel from such as you find the best,
and harden it yourself. If you don’t know how, a few trials will enable
you to do it “everytime,” as the saying is. I have found Sanderson’s,
Jessops, and Stubbs, all good steel; also Park Brothers American steel
first-rate for general work. No doubt there are some who will take up
this book, and for the first time read of the matters contained
therein, to whom hardening and tempering are “all Greek;” to such I
will explain the process.
Very often amateurs buy tools which are good if they were only properly
hardened, and to them also, it may be of service—if they do not
already know it—to be able to do this simple thing.